Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU — what it covers

The Low Voltage Directive, Directive 2014/35/EU of 26 February 2014, is the recast LVD that has applied across the EU since 20 April 2016. It governs the making available on the market of electrical equipment designed for use within specified voltage limits, and it is one of the oldest and most-used "New Legislative Framework" directives — meaning it slots into the same Module A / CE marking / DoC pattern as the EMC, RED and machinery acts.

Despite its age, the LVD is often misread. People assume it covers "everything electrical", they forget Annex II carves out a long list of exclusions, and they sometimes assume a notified body is involved. None of that is true for most equipment. This article walks through scope, safety objectives, Module A, the technical file, the DoC content in Annex IV, and the harmonised standards that confer presumption of conformity.

Scope: voltage limits and what is in (Article 1)

Article 1 of Directive 2014/35/EU defines the LVD's scope precisely on voltage. The directive applies to "electrical equipment designed for use with a voltage rating of between 50 and 1 000 V for alternating current and between 75 and 1 500 V for direct current" (EUR-Lex consolidated text).

Below 50 V AC or 75 V DC, the LVD does not apply — though other safety regimes (GPSR, RoHS, toy safety, MDR) may still bite. Above 1000 V AC or 1500 V DC you are in the high-voltage regime, also outside the LVD.

In scope you typically find:

• Household and similar appliances (kettles, washing machines, ovens)
• Power supplies and chargers fed by mains
• Cables and cordsets
• Lighting equipment
• Industrial mains-powered control and drive equipment
• Office and ICT equipment running on mains

A pure DC product running off a 24 V power brick is still in LVD scope through the brick. The brick itself is the LVD product; the DC-only sub-assembly downstream is normally not.

Scope: what is out (Annex II exclusions)

Annex II of the directive lists categories of equipment that are explicitly excluded, even where they sit inside the voltage band. Per the consolidated text, those exclusions include:

• Electrical equipment for use in an explosive atmosphere
• Electrical equipment for radiology and medical purposes
• Electrical parts for goods and passenger lifts
• Electricity meters
• Plugs and socket outlets for domestic use
• Electric fence controllers
• Radio-electrical interference (the EMC angle is covered by Directive 2014/30/EU)
• Specialised electrical equipment for use on ships, aircraft or railways that complies with safety provisions drawn up by international bodies
• Customised evaluation kits destined for professionals used solely at research and development facilities

The big one in practice is medical: a 230 V mains-powered medical device sits under the Medical Devices Regulation 2017/745 for safety, not the LVD. Lifts go under the Lifts Directive 2014/33/EU. ATEX equipment goes under Directive 2014/34/EU.

Safety objectives (Annex I)

The LVD does not prescribe detailed technical rules — it sets safety objectives. Annex I groups them into three clusters:

1. General conditions — equipment must carry essential characteristics for safe and proper use, must be marked legibly, and must be designed and built so that safe assembly and connection can be carried out.
2. Protection against hazards arising from the electrical equipment — protection against contact (direct or indirect), against temperature, arcs, radiation, against non-electrical dangers caused by the equipment, and against insulation suited to foreseeable conditions.
3. Protection against hazards which may be caused by external influences — mechanical requirements, resistance to non-mechanical environmental influences, and protection against foreseeable overload conditions.

Annex I deliberately stays high-level; the harmonised standards (next section) turn these objectives into measurable test methods.

Conformity assessment: Module A (Annex III)

The LVD uses a single conformity assessment route: Module A — internal production control, set out in Annex III. There is no notified body in the LVD path. The manufacturer alone:

• Establishes and maintains the technical documentation
• Performs (or commissions) the necessary tests
• Verifies that the manufacturing process ensures compliance
• Affixes the CE marking
• Draws up and signs the EU Declaration of Conformity

For the broader theory of NLF conformity assessment modules, see our Module A–H walk-through. For the LVD specifically, only Module A is on the menu.

Technical documentation

Annex III specifies the technical documentation must "make it possible to assess the conformity of the electrical equipment with the relevant requirements, and shall include an adequate analysis and assessment of the risk(s)". Practically that means:

• General description of the equipment
• Conceptual design, manufacturing drawings, schemes of components, sub-assemblies, circuits
• Descriptions and explanations necessary to understand the drawings and schemes and the operation of the equipment
• A list of the harmonised standards applied in full or in part, or descriptions of the solutions adopted where they are not applied
• Results of design calculations made, examinations carried out
• Test reports

Article 6(3) of Directive 2014/35/EU requires manufacturers to keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for 10 years after the electrical equipment has been placed on the market — see our technical file retention guide. The structure we recommend is in technical file 101.

EU Declaration of Conformity (Annex IV)

Article 15 obliges manufacturers to draw up an EU DoC when an LVD product is placed on the market. Annex IV lists what it must contain. The structure mirrors the standard NLF template:

For a step-by-step worked example see our sample DoC walkthrough, and for the general primer Declaration of Conformity 101. When a harmonised standard updates and you stay below the cited reference, see updating a DoC after amendment.

Harmonised standards and presumption of conformity

Article 12 of the LVD states that "electrical equipment which is in conformity with harmonised standards or parts thereof the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union shall be presumed to be in conformity with the safety objectives".

In LVD practice you build to two big families:

• EN 60335 series — Household and similar electrical appliances. Safety. Part 1 is the horizontal core; part 2-x branches give appliance-specific requirements (2-14 kitchen machines, 2-25 microwave ovens, 2-40 heat pumps, etc.).
• EN 62368-1 — Audio/video, information and communication technology equipment. Replaces the older EN 60950-1 (IT) and EN 60065 (AV) consolidation; mandatory transition completed in 2020.

Other families come into play depending on product type: EN 61010-1 (laboratory and measurement equipment), EN 60204-1 (machinery electrical equipment), EN 60598 (luminaires), EN 60601 series (where the LVD does not apply but the safety baseline is similar).

Important caveat. Only the exact reference cited in the OJEU confers presumption of conformity. The Commission notes on its LVD harmonised-standards page that as of April 2025 the summary lists are not being updated due to database maintenance — always check the latest Implementing Decision in the OJEU, not a third-party blog. Recent example: Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1464 of 17 July 2025 added EN 60335-2-14:2006 with amendments for kitchen machines.

Where the LVD meets other regimes

Common mistakes

• Treating "low voltage" colloquially. "Low voltage" in the LVD means up to 1000 V AC / 1500 V DC — much higher than what an electrician calls "low voltage" on a site. Mains-powered consumer products are squarely in the LVD.
• Forgetting the lower limit. Below 50 V AC / 75 V DC the LVD does not apply. A USB-powered accessory that has no mains plug is normally outside LVD scope (though the upstream PSU is in).
• Citing an outdated harmonised standard version. Only the OJEU-cited version confers presumption of conformity. A DoC that cites a withdrawn version after its transition date no longer carries presumption.
• Listing a notified body number after the CE mark. The LVD has no notified body — adding a four-digit NB number suggests you used a module that does not exist in this directive.
• Mixing LVD with RED on a radio product. When a product is in RED scope, safety lives in RED Article 3(1)(a) and the LVD should not be cited additionally on the DoC.
• Skipping the risk analysis. Annex III requires "an adequate analysis and assessment of the risk(s)" — a bare test report without documented hazard analysis is incomplete. See our risk assessment guide.
• Storing the technical file outside the EU only. Article 6 requires availability to authorities for 10 years; in practice you need a contact who can retrieve it from inside the Union — see EC REP responsibilities when you have no EU-established manufacturer.

How Cenitia helps

Cenitia turns the LVD's paperwork load — Annex III technical file, Article 6 retention, Annex IV DoC content, harmonised-standard citation tracking — into a guided workflow with an audit trail. You answer a product questionnaire once; we generate a draft technical file structure, a DoC populated against Annex IV item-by-item, and a standards register pinned to the live OJEU citations.

When the Commission publishes an Implementing Decision that withdraws or supersedes an LVD harmonised standard, Cenitia flags every DoC and technical file that references the affected reference, so you do not learn about the change six months later through a customer complaint.

Frequently asked questions

What voltage range does the Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU apply to?

Article 1 of Directive 2014/35/EU covers electrical equipment designed for use with a voltage rating of 50 to 1000 V AC and 75 to 1500 V DC. Equipment below those thresholds is outside the LVD (but may still fall under other directives such as the RED or RoHS). See the consolidated text on EUR-Lex at eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/35/oj.

Does the LVD require a notified body?

No. The LVD uses Module A (internal production control) per Annex III. The manufacturer alone declares conformity, prepares the technical documentation, and signs the EU Declaration of Conformity. No notified body involvement is required for equipment falling solely under the LVD.

How long must I keep the LVD technical documentation?

Article 6(3) of Directive 2014/35/EU requires manufacturers to keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for 10 years after the electrical equipment has been placed on the market. The same 10-year rule appears throughout most New Legislative Framework directives.

Which equipment is excluded from the LVD?

Annex II lists exclusions: equipment for use in explosive atmospheres, electrical equipment for radiology and medical purposes, electrical parts of goods and passenger lifts, electricity meters, plugs and socket outlets for domestic use, electric fence controllers, radio-electrical interference, and specialised equipment for ships/aircraft/railways used by public authorities, plus customised evaluation kits for R&D professionals.

Which harmonised standards give presumption of conformity under the LVD?

Per Article 12 of Directive 2014/35/EU, only harmonised standards whose references have been cited in the Official Journal of the EU confer presumption of conformity. Common families include EN 60335 (household and similar appliances) and EN 62368-1 (audio/video, ICT and communication-technology equipment). Always check the current OJEU citation before relying on a specific edition.

Do LVD and the Radio Equipment Directive overlap?

When a product is in scope of the Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU (RED), the electrical safety objectives normally covered by the LVD are absorbed into Article 3(1)(a) of the RED, and the LVD does not apply additionally. A pure mains-powered, non-radio appliance stays under the LVD; a connected/radio device follows the RED safety route.

Related from the Library

• Declaration of Conformity 101 — the DoC template that Annex IV mirrors
• Technical file 101 — what to put inside the Annex III technical documentation
• Conformity assessment modules A to H — where Module A sits in the wider NLF picture
• CE marking 101 — affixing the mark once Module A is complete
• Top 10 CE marking mistakes — what to avoid before you sign the DoC

Further reading

• Directive 2014/35/EU — consolidated text on EUR-Lex
• CELEX:32014L0035 — original OJ publication
• European Commission — Low Voltage Directive policy page
• European Commission — Harmonised standards for the LVD
• Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1464 — EN 60335-2-14:2006 citation
• EMC Directive 2014/30/EU — the companion directive most LVD products also cite
• "Blue Guide" on the implementation of EU product rules — overarching NLF guidance

Last reviewed: 5 July 2026. Cited regulations watched continuously by Cenitia — when one amends, this article is flagged for update.